Battlefield Resource Consolidation - 2020 

Introduction

Planetside 2 has many different resources that players need to manage, which makes it confusing for new players and likely widens the gap between them and veterans. However all the resources we have can be broken down into two categories; those that are used for character progression unlocks and those that acquire assets on the battlefield. To clarify, let me list all the manageable resources we have:

Character progression resources:

Battlefield resources:

There is also Daybreak Cash which is spent on unlocking new weapons, and there is now yet another resource with the introduction of the mission and campaign system.

The various battlefield resources give the devs the ability to tweak things on a system by system level, making say construction more accessible by increasing cortium gain, while not affecting how quickly outfits can pull Bastions. It also gives different sized outfits different targets as large outfits will want to capture the Polystellerite territories more than the smaller ones generally. Originally we had separate territories granting infantry, armour and air resources, which allowed the devs to say increase resources for aircraft which allowed more aircraft to be pulled without making it easier to pull MAXs, which cannot be achieved in that way with current nanites (although, just increasing MAX nanite cost or decreasing aircraft nanite cost would do the job).

However there is significant overlap between the battlefield resources with the construction system already blurring the lines as vehicles can be pulled with cortium (and for that matter, certs) instead of the usual nanites and orbital strikes being purchased with war assets or cortium.  Having similar things accessed with different resources is confusing and makes it too easy to totally ignore elements of the game. 

Proposal

What I propose is that almost all the manageable character resources are merged together (see this link for details), and all the battlefield resources are merged. War Assets would be reworked in such a way as to reward squad and platoon leaders as well as those in outfits and tie into construction, so the two systems are not at odds with one another. If the system were unified then construction could be brought into regular gameplay more than currently, where it interacts with the core game primarily through Router placements and Orbital Strikes. 

All merging would happen in phases to iron out any problems that crop up.

Battlefield Resources

All battlefield resources would merge into nanites:

All current vehicles, infantry equipment, MAXs, construction options and war assets would be purchased by differing amounts of nanites. Access would depend on the role of the player and the terminal they are accessing at the time.

Individuals would see little immediate change as they would still have a personal caps at 750 nanites, around which we would balance the rest of the resource costs.

Construction players would see cortium change to nanites and would, just like now, have to mine and deposit nanites into silos they construct. These nanites could then purchase construction items and pulling vehicles from their constructed terminals. However individuals would be able to contribute their own nanites to the construction effort with a dedicated tool. This will allow groups to quickly get bases set up as the frontline shifts back and forth without having to collect huge amounts of cortium/nanites. 

War Assets would also be merged into nanites. Some territories would grant more resources than others, such as three point territories and the three main facility types. However the big change would be that squad and platoon leaders, rather than just outfits, would earn the ability to use war assets. In addition to the individuals nanite amount leaders would have an increased pool, which fills only when their squad works together (via squad support experience) to take and defend territory. Platoon leaders would earn extra when their squad leads earn their extra nanites.

Squad leaders would earn enough nanites to deploy generic assets (Facility modules and ANVILs, with squad Steel Rain added) while platoon leaders would also earn enough to deploy reserved assets (Colossus, Citadel Skyshield, Orbital Strike and a new entire platoon Steel Rain). Platoon leaders could also earn enough to pull Bastions. This is in addition to outfits earning resources for capturing bases, as this encourages outfit membership and directly rewards players for running these organisations which are vital tools for player retention. These resources could be spent to bank up resources as now, and then deployed when that individual is in a leadership role of a fireteam, squad or platoon (thereby limiting OS spam). Note that a fire team leaders would also earn extra nanites, allowing them to pull more vehicles and, of the War Assets, Heavy ANVILs.

See below for preliminary nanite amounts for some examples:

Resource Overhaul 2020

Impact

These changes would distil down the existing manageable resources from 10 or so down to 2:

This would remove a lot of the management of resources that players and groups need to do, simplifying gameplay and letting us focus on the fight and spending our certs on what we want. It would speed up construction and bring it in from the cold by integrating it with the existing bases (see Appendix 1, 2 and 3 below for details). It also would provide session leaders (fire team, squad and platoon leaders) with rewards and encourage them to provide guidance to others.

Appendices 

In this section see some optional (although it would be best to implement these as well) sections which would bolt on to the above core changes.

Each facility would have power like construction bases do currently. However unlike construction bases they will passively receive power when connected to the warpgate via the lattice. However when under heavy load (due to many people spawning) or it is cut off from the warpgate it will reduce in power until they begin to experience blackouts in which terminals and shields would shut down and then if not refuelled shut down completely, stopping all spawns. As nanite levels drop defenders would get fewer and fewer nanites per tick, reducing their effectiveness and potentially other negative consequences as seen in the image to the right. 

Optionally if a base runs out of power it would become neutral and then it would be free to capture by opposing empires if they can bring nanites to the base. This would give us the option to capture territories behind the lines if attackers can maintain pressure or drain the nanite silo with a specially equipped ANT. Capture of a neutral base would take half the time of a powered base to allow attackers to quickly prepare for responding defenders.

Bases running out of power can be avoided by resupplying the base with nanites using ANTs (and potentially the prototyped flying cortium transport Wasp) and delivering the nanites to the vehicle resupply silo (image below).

Attackers would have no requirement to provide nanites for their Sunderers as they are already at a disadvantage as they lack a hard spawn point in most territories.

This was outlined originally by ex SOE developer Malorn in this excellent game design document and is very similar to the system that was in the original game.

Impact

This change would add more depth to the game, providing another role for players to take on. For most small fights this would not matter as the passive power from the warpgate would nullify the drain from players spawning. However in larger fights which go on for a while and stalemate, defenders would be at a disadvantage as power runs low unless they can break the siege and get a fuelled ANT into the base. This was a mechanic in the original Planetside and it was a huge win to get an ANT to a besieged base just in the nick of time. 

2. Merging of Construction and War Assets

There is a considerable overlap between construction, war assets and nanites. To clarify I will break down the core issues and some proposed solutions:

Impact

These changes would simplify the system to be consistent and also give players more options in the field.

3. Construction Tweaks

The above changes will make construction much more impactful, important and quicker to build. Therefore more combat will revolve around them so we should make some tweaks to make them more enjoyable. These tweaks are based around Cyrious's suggestions in this video.

Impact

By removing the annoyances with construction bases it will make people more willing to attack them. By removing the automated defences it will make them harder to defend, however the game is not about PvE, and players should be required to fight to defend any terrain.